ABSTRACT
Theme parks have emerged as a major tourist attraction in Asia. Their design and layout are often sophisticated and thus constitute a challenge to the way people access this type of tourism infrastructure. Developing a theme park identity is essential for successful wayfinding and for creating space for a more legible and user-friendly experience. In recent years, wayfinding has become an issue for how visitors find their way around the theme park. However, only a few studies have explored visitor behaviour related to spatial planning and the choice of activities that visitors prefer most. This research investigates visitors’ wayfinding behaviour in the theme park by determining the pattern of movement to improve the physical environment. The study was conducted at Universal Studios in the city-state of Singapore. The researcher used a questionnaire survey to elicit data from 229 theme park visitors. The aspects investigated include visitors’ perceptions of the design, facilities, choices, and preferences. In addition, a behavioural observation was conducted to complement the questionnaire. The study data were analysed using the Rasch Measurement Model with the aid of Rasch Winstep software. This study found that patterns of behaviour based on specific intentions, attitudes, and motivation were most significant and were identified through the environmental and behaviour responses. It also discovered that the rules of human wayfinding ability could be grouped into three types: adaptability, visual connectivity and flexibility. Both behaviours can be merged to improve the flow of visitors, which indicates that spatial and individual factors do affect familiarity with the environment. Therefore, regarding wayfinding behaviour, visitors’ tend to be more anxious in looking for a strategy preference in facing the difficulties which they engage with the activities in each zone, base on individual cognitive performance. The findings of this research can definitely benefit to theme park management, space designers and policy makers in tourism and recreation industry which improve the overall theme park experience for visitors’ to revisit again.